Has Linux Mint Killed Distrohopping?

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Back in the old days, Linux used to be a tough cookie to get installed. It was way more challenging than Windows and certainly nothing like Mac OS X. You never really knew if it would work well with all of your hardware until you tried it. Sometimes things went great and other times—well, let’s just say that things didn’t go well at all.

These days, it’s more or less a snap to get Linux working on your computer. Oh sure, you may have an occasional snafu with a particular component, but nothing like what you used to run into. Linux is much better at supporting hardware now, and things have become much, much simpler.

Perhaps a little too simple.

Linux Mint: The Death Knell for Distrohopping?When they created Ubuntu, the folks at Canonical created a distro that would spawn tons of remastered versions. One of the most popular of those is Linux Mint. It takes generic Ubuntu and adds all kinds of goodies (including multimedia codecs) that make it even easier and more comfortable to use on a desktop computer.

And therein lies the problem.

Linux Mint may have made things too easy and, in doing so, it may have killed the great Linux pastime of distrohopping. For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s what desktop Linux users do as they seek their ultimate distro. They spring from one to another to another, never quite satisfied with any they land on.

Or at least that’s how it used to be.

I’ve noticed that some of the folks that used to be dedicated distrohoppers have now settled in with Linux Mint and don’t really bother with other distros all that much anymore. They’ve found that Linux Mint simply does everything they need a desktop operating system to do, and easily: In addition to the multimedia codecs, it provides built-in tools such as mintMenu, mintInstall, mintUpdate, and mintUpload. So why spend the time installing other distros?

It’s a sad thing to watch as dedicated Linux geeks abandon distrohopping in favor of sedately using the same distribution on an ongoing basis. How boring! How tedious! In a way, it’s almost like using Windows! They just sit there like oblivious cows, content to chew their cud and gaze mindlessly across the field as the time passes.

What a pathetic sight to see: legions of once-proud and nimble distrohoppers reduced to the status of tepid and passive distrocows that resemble their real-life dairy-producing cousins. You can practically hear them all mooing as they stand in their own filth and mindlessly wait for the final trip to the slaughterhouse.

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NonAppleholic

Mint is still for Windows and OS X converts, where everything is decided for them in Gestapo like Chairman Mao Suit wearing fashion. At least with Ubuntu or 100’s of other distros you can still make your own decisions without being forced to not use the Search Engine of your choice, because Mint developers are making fast bucks off making many decisions for you!

Yeah…. Mint only looks like a Free Open Source Distro. But in reality it’s simply another way to rip you and the Open Source Community…. OFF!!!

If you want refined with real Freedom there are many others still out there…. like Sabayon Linux and even Knoppix hasn’t disappeared with perhaps the easiest install or Live Distro still being and load or install on perhaps the widest range of hardware still today! …..and that with it still having more frills and thrills custom features available than either Ubuntu or Mint right out of the box!

How about Gentoo Linux and their easy as pie ground up custom install actually all done for you with a truly yours only look n feel?

Don’t get me wrong some things are good about Mint…. but they own none of it and yet still try to control YOU and your use of it. The lack of Google Search Engine Choice is just one way they do that. All in an effort to be more like Apple’s Authoritarian “We Know Better than YOU” Sheep Control and Microsoft’s cattle prod channeled Chutes and Ladders Metro Design Control System!

NonAppleholic

Not even….. close to the truth. If anything Linuxs users love the ability to bring sanity to their own custom user experience out of CHAOS! ;-P

Linux rules first because it’s Open…. like a Door into a toy store to play with even the inner workings of the Operating System to make it your own. Mint is for iSheep and Dancing Balmer Monkeys, so all their decisions are made for them!

Hannes Steffenhagen

Uh, I’ll stick to Arch Linux, thank you very much. I ended up with a lot more problems as I started, but it was a lot easier to fix problems when they arised. Also, I found the rigid versioning of Ubuntu to be quite detrimental to my work – during my time with Ubuntu, I quite often got into the situation that packages were just too old to be usable (e.g: vim version too old, didn’t contain bugfixes that were required for several plugins I used to work properly), so I had to install the majority of my libraries and programs manually – rendering the package system mostly useless.

Of course, if you’re just a casual user looking for an alternative to Windows or MacOS, Mint is definitely one of the better choices (maybe the best? I’d be careful with that kinda statement, but I’d say it’s an option you should try).

Krotow

IMHO Mint will not help to stop distro mayhem. But it really can be the best choice for newcomers in Linux world and a good work horse for wide sort of users from office to technics and developers like me. The most needed thing that must be improved is hardware support. Especially for mobile 3D video cards, new fancy wireless chipsets (notorious Aetheros/Ralink for example) and printers/scanners.

iKrontologist

I can’t believe this writer doesn’t seem to be aware of the fact that pop in Live Linux Discs have been around for over a decade. It’s what spurred Distro Hopping Fever. No other operating system can run off CD/DVD/USB/ image on literally any hardware.

It’s the fact you don’t have to know a thing about installing an OS to run any of them. You can even use them to access problem Windows installs and see copy or replace files, Windows or especially Macs won’t let you. Linux is the most portable OS on the planet! ……nothing else even compares and the security of a Live Disc can’t be matched by any hard drive installed OS. It’s as secure as an embedded OS and Knoppix is still king of the Live Discs. Because it never forces you into using adware controlled Mint OS junkware. I can’t stand that they don’t allow you to use Google Search by default and Mint OS is now so owned by Ad controlled junkware, it’s hardly Open Source any more. Changing anything is a nightmare and it’s only getting worse.

I’ve often used Mint OS to install for Linux Noobs, but most get so frustrated by the update and upgrading process that they never use it after away. I can’t stand to use Mint OS myself for longer than a few minutes, before I’m taking it apart and killing their numerous control features. Mint OS is exactly why people get out of Windows and Mac OS in the first place. To escape bloatware, temp shareware, overpriced trialware, the ever maddening attempts to shove ads in your face, etc!

So in fact Mint OS ends up not solving any distro hopping problem if there ever was one in the first place. It’s only really solved the problem of getting money into it’s developers pockets a little differently than Ubuntu uses. Which is also on the outs with the Open Source Community over DRM (Digital Rectal Manipulation) now. I’ll take any one of the other true Linux Distro as my primary install over Mint anyday. Sabayon on Gentu is better, with Fedora and Open SuSE also top ranked for ease of use. Not to mention the other 100’s of Distros available that still have Windows and Macs beat on customizability!!!

I can’t believe this writer doesn’t seem to be aware of the fact that pop in Live Linux Discs have been around for over a decade. It’s what spurred Distro Hopping Fever. No other operating system can run off CD/DVD/USB/ image on literally any hardware.

It’s the fact you don’t have to know a thing about installing an OS to run any of them. You can even use them to access problem Windows installs and see copy or replace files, Windows or especially Macs won’t let you. Linux is the most portable OS on the planet! ……nothing else even compares and the security of a Live Disc can’t be matched by any hard drive installed OS. It’s as secure as an embedded OS and Knoppix is still king of the Live Discs. Because it never forces you into using adware controlled Mint OS junkware. I can’t stand that they don’t allow you to use Google Search by default and Mint OS is now so owned by Ad controlled junkware, it’s hardly Open Source any more. Changing anything is a nightmare and it’s only getting worse.

I’ve often used Mint OS to install for Linux Noobs, but most get so frustrated by the update and upgrading process that they never use it after away. I can’t stand to use Mint OS myself for longer than a few minutes, before I’m taking it apart and killing their numerous control features. Mint OS is exactly why people get out of Windows and Mac OS in the first place. To escape bloatware, temp shareware, overpriced trialware, the ever maddening attempts to shove ads in your face, etc!

So in fact Mint OS ends up not solving any distro hopping problem if there ever was one in the first place. It’s only really solved the problem of getting money into it’s developers pockets a little differently than Ubuntu uses. Which is also on the outs with the Open Source Community over DRM (Digital Rectal Manipulation) now. I’ll take any one of the other true Linux Distro as my primary install over Mint anyday. Sabayon on Gentu is better, with Fedora and Open SuSE also top ranked for ease of use. Not to mention the other 100’s of Distros available that still have Windows and Macs beat on customizability!!!

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